Need disposable phone numbers? Burner has you covered

In a bar and don’t want to give your cell number to a stranger? Selling a table on Craigslist and don’t want randos knowing how to reach you at all times? Or, perhaps you’ve watched reruns of The Wire one too many times?

Say hello to Burner, the app that lets users purchase short-term cell numbers that can be used and “burned” in a short period of time, all managed through a user’s personal iPhone without giving away that cell’s number.

Disposable cell numbers certainly seem like they might be used for nefarious activities, but founder & CEO Greg Cohn said these numbers can be used for any number of purposes in the era when a cell number is so closely tied a person’s identity.

“Burner is for anyone who has more than one life – or who simply values their privacy,” Cohn stated in the press release for Burner, which was built by Ad Hoc Labs, the Los Angeles-based software company.

The app will become available in the Apple iTunes App Store Wednesday for $1.99 per download. Users start out with three credits, which gives them a single number for seven days of use or 20 minutes of talk time. Users can purchase additional credits or packages to extend the life of a number, or “burn” it at any time.

Within the app, users can manage texts and calls to individual numbers, purchase credits to create additional lines, and share those numbers to social networks.

Cohn explained that while users might eventually be able to purchase and maintain numbers for indefinite use, they’re really intended to serve short-term purposes, like accompanying a Craigslist ad, putting the app’s services in a different category than something like a Google Voice number which is more permanent by nature.